Abstract: This collection contains the papers of Wallace Stevens (1879-1955), one of the foremost American poets of the first half of
the 20th century.
The collection is comprised primarily of letters written to Stevens, his carbon copy replies, and
autograph manuscripts and poems. The crux of the collection is the correspondence between Stevens and his family, scholars,
poets, editors, business associates,
and friends, and much of it deals with Stevens' poetry. Also included is an extensive collection of genealogical material,
in the form of letters, documents,
typescripts, and photographs.

Language: English.

Note:

Finding aid last updated on May 22, 2015.

Access

The collection is open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information,
please visit the Huntington's website:
www.huntington.org.

Administrative Information

Publication Rights

The Huntington Library holds the literary rights for materials acquired in the original January 1975 purchase from Holly Stevens.
Stevens retained the literary rights for items
acquired by the Library later in 1975 consisting of WAS 2325, WAS 2326, WAS 2329, WAS 2330, WAS 3850-3859, WAS 3861-3865,
WAS 3868-3870, WAS 3872, WAS 3874, WAS 3876-3878, WAS 3880, WAS 3882-3889,
WAS 3891-3896, WAS 3898-3902, WAS 3904-3913, WAS 3915-3944, and WAS 3963. Upon the death of Holly Stevens, the rights passed
to her son, Peter Hanchak.
Please contact the Huntington’s Curator of Literary Manuscripts with any questions.

The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material,
nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for
identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.

Gift of Holly Stevens, January 1975. A few of the items catalogued with the collection were gifts from Wilson E. Taylor
and Holly Stevens and later purchases from Holly Stevens. These are noted on the individual folders.

The collection was processed and a summary report first created on March 29, 1980. In 1998, an initial EAD-encoded finding
aid was created.
In April 2015, Diann Benti created a box list for the collection and this updated version of the finding aid.

Biographical Note

Wallace Stevens (1879-1955) was one of the foremost American poets of the first half of
the 20th century. Born in Reading, Pennsylvania, Stevens retained an interest during his
lifetime in his native Berks County, Pennsylvania. His wife, Elsie Viola (Moll) Stevens,
came from Reading, and both Stevens and his wife devoted considerable time and energy
tracing their family ancestries (primarily in the 1940s).

Though Stevens refused to consider his life a dichotomy, his poetic activities were
accomplished while he was holding a full-time position as a legal advisor for the
Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company in Hartford, Connecticut, the firm for which he
acted as Vice-President from 1934 until his death in 1955.

Stevens began writing verse as a student at Harvard University and had a number of his
verses published in the
Harvard Advocate and the
Harvard Monthly between 1898 and 1900. In 1908 and 1909, Stevens presented his future wife, Elsie
Viola Moll, with two little notebooks of poems (
A Book of Verses and
The Little June Book) which gathered together short poems Stevens had been
experimenting with since leaving Harvard. Between 1914 and 1923, Stevens submitted poems
to a number of journals, including
Poetry (edited by Harriet Monroe),
The Dial and
Others (edited by Alfred Kreymborg). In 1923,
Stevens' first book of poems,
Harmonium, was published. With
Harmonium, he began a lifelong association with the publishing firm Alfred A.
Knopf Inc. Stevens did, however, offer the Cummington Press, a small fine press, three
of his books:
Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction (1942),
Esthétique du
Mal
(1945), and
Three Academic Pieces (1947). The Alcestis Press,
under the direction of Ronald Lane Latimer, printed
Ideas of Order (1935)
and
Owl's Clover (1936).

Stevens was twice awarded the National Book Award: in 1950 for
The Auroras of
Autumn
(1950) and in 1954 for
Collected Poems (1954). He was
awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1955.

Scope and Content

This collection contains the papers of American poet Wallace Stevens and is comprised primarily of letters written to Stevens,
his carbon copy replies, and
autograph manuscripts and poems, as well as family photographs, an extensive collection of genealogical research material
on the Stevens and allied families, and some ephemera.

The crux of the collection is the correspondence between Stevens and his family, friends, scholars, poets, editors, and business
associates (although there are
no letters from the files of Stevens' employer, the Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company). Much of the correspondence deals
with Stevens' poetry, or provides
biographical or ideological information about Stevens. In addition to the 58 boxes of correspondence, there is an additional
series containing xeroxes of Stevens
correspondence and manuscripts held by other institutions.

The Stevens family, including Stevens' wife Elsie and their daughter, Holly Bright Stevens, are well represented in the collection,
as are Stevens' friends Barbara
Church and Henry Hall Church. In addition, there are two boxes of addenda chiefly consisting of documents and photographs
related to Stevens' eldest sister Elizabeth (Stevens) McFarland, which
were added to the collection in 1977. Other individuals represented in the collection include: E. E. Cummings, Alfred A. Knopf,
Robert McAlmon, Thomas MacGreevy,
Archibald MacLeish, Marianne Moore, Jose Rodriguez Feo, and John Orley Allen Tate.

In addition to photographs and documents produced by Stevens family members, there are also over 2,000 pieces of genealogical
material, in the form of letters,
documents and typescripts, that reflect Wallace and Elsie Stevens' interest in tracing their family ancestry beginning in
the early 1940s.

Items in the manuscripts and correspondence series have been fully indexed alphabetically and chronologically on cards in
the Manuscript Catalogue in the Library.

Collection Contents

The manuscripts consist both of works by others about or to Wallace Stevens, and manuscripts
of Stevens' poems, essays, and speeches.

The manuscripts by others include
dedicatory poems to Stevens, essays about Stevens (e.g. by Robert M. Pack and Mary Bernetta Quinn),
and adaptations and translations of Stevens' poems (e.g. by Renato Poggioli). This series also includes an academic notebook
kept by Stevens' grandfather Benjamin Stevens (born 1808)
in 1822 (WAS 3965, loose volume).

[Hywel David Lewis],
On Poetic Truth (an essay first published in
Philosophy (July 1946), in Stevens' hand). (WAS 4093, in Box 66)

The manuscripts by Stevens are both autograph and typewritten. When Stevens' secretary/stenographer prepared his typescripts,
she made 3 copies: an
original and 2 carbons. When a carbon copy exists along with the original typescript, it has been catalogued with the original
unless it contains
annotations or corrections by Stevens.
Most of the manuscripts have been published in one of three places: 1) a published work of Stevens, 2)
Opus Posthumous, ed. Samuel French Morse, 1957
or 3) Robert Buttel,
Wallace Stevens: The Making of Harmonium, 1967. When assigning dates to manuscripts, evidence given by Morse, Buttel, J.M. Edelstein,
Wallace Stevens: A Descriptive Bibliography, 1973, and the correspondence have all been weighed.

The heart of the collection is the correspondence between Wallace Stevens and his family, scholars, poets, editors, business
associates and friends.
All of the correspondence (except that relating to genealogy) has been fully catalogued in the Manuscripts Catalogue.

Although there is some correspondence of minor importance, such as friends' greetings while Stevens was convalescing in 1955,
most of it has an interest from
either a biographical or poetical viewpoint. Many of the letters from Stevens were published by his daughter in
Letters of Wallace Stevens, ed. Holly
Stevens, 1966. But still unpublished is the other side of the correspondence--to Stevens--amounting to about 2,500 pieces.
The bulk of Stevens' letters are
carbon copies, with the exception of his letters to Barbara S. Church, Wilson E. Taylor, and Elsie Viola (Moll) Stevens. Stevens
began to keep carbon
copies regularly only after the early 1940s, so his letters from the earlier period are scarce in the collection. A brief
notice of the kinds of correspondence
in the collection is given below:

Family Letters

The most significant family figure represented in the correspondence is Stevens' wife, Elsie Viola (Moll) Stevens (1886–1963).
Her real name was Elsie Viola Kachel, but when her mother remarried,
Elsie took on the surname Moll. Most of the correspondence is from Stevens to Elsie, 1907 (before their engagement) to 1935.
(271 pieces; WAS 1776-2047).
The principal letters from Elsie are to her stepfather and mother, Lehman W. and Ida Bright (Smith) Kachel Moll and to her
half-sister, Dorothy La Rue (Moll) Weidner.

Holly Bright Stevens (1924-1992): Daughter of Wallace and Elsie Stevens. First married name: Hanchak (son: Peter Reed Hanchak).
Second married name: Stephenson. Her maiden name is used throughout the collection.

The crux of the collection deals with Wallace Stevens' poetry; a majority of the correspondence falls into this category.
The following list deals
only with some of the correspondents, including those who were important in their own right or important for the quality of
the correspondence. The list is by no means
complete. Many of the editors of journals, critics and publishers that figure in the collection are not on the following list
but may be found
alphabetically in the Manuscript Catalogue in the Library. All letters in the list are addressed to or written by Stevens.

Note: Marguerite G. Flynn, whose name figures in some of the correspondence, was Stevens' secretary and stenographer. She
personally answered some of
Stevens' letters, especially in 1955 when Stevens was hospitalized. Letters written by her are catalogued under her name,
not Stevens'.

Henry Hall Church: 102 pieces, 1939-[1947]. (WAS 3366-3467). Stevens to HHC: 94 pieces, 1939-1947, mostly carbons.
(WAS 3468-3561). Barbara S. Church: 112 pieces, 1942-1955. (WAS 3563-3674). Stevens to BSC: 148 letters, 1 942-1955,
mostly originals. (WAS 3678-3825). The Church-Stevens correspondence is undoubtedly the most important (and numerous)
in the collection. Henry Church and Stevens were both interested in French literature and, during the war years when the
Churches were unable to spend half the year in their home at Ville d'Avray, France, Stevens saw the Churches frequently
and became close friends with them, so that in his correspondence with both Henry and Barbara Church, he frequently and
honestly speaks of his personal and literary life.

Although Stevens never travelled abroad (other than to Havana, Cuba), he was always interested to read about foreign places
and to correspond with foreigners.
Some of the most engaging correspondence is with foreign writers, whose letters with Stevens are among
the finest in the collection for the insights they give into Stevens the man and the poet.

Notable correspondents include:

Rosamond (Bates) Cary: 6 letters, 1931-1936. (WAS 2071-2076). Stevens to RBC: 6 carbons, 1935-1936. (WAS 2077-2082).
Cary was an American living in Otaru, Japan. Stevens asked her to select a number of Japanese toys and traditional
items as gifts for Elsie and Holly Stevens.

Robert McAlmon: 13 letters, [1921-1924]. (WAS 1150-1162). McAlmon, an American writer living and writing in Europe, wrote
some extremely
good letters about James Joyce and other literary figures in the 1920s.

Thomas MacGreevy: 39 letters, 1948-1955. (WAS 141-158; 161-180). Stevens to TM: 17 carbons, 1948-1955. (WAS 181-197). MacGreevy
was
appointed Director of the National Gallery of Ireland in 1950. The MacGreevy-Stevens correspondence brings out Stevens' interest
in
painting and the other arts.

Anatole Vidal: 20 letters, 1935-1940, in French. (WAS 2650-2669). Vidal was the Parisian bookseller who, like his daughter
Paule Vidal after
his death, provided Stevens with French books and magazines and purchased for Stevens original paintings by contemporary French
artists,
including Auberjonois, Maurice Brianchon, Roger Callois and Tal Coat. The Anatole and Paule Vidal correspondence is of the
utmost importance
in defining Stevens' attitudes toward modern art and literature.

Paule Vidal: 80 letters, 1945-1955,in French. (WAS 2806-2885). Stevens to PV: 110 carbons, 1945-1955. (WAS 2886-2995). Paule
Vidal took over her
father's bookshop in Paris after his death in the early 1940s and continued the correspondence with Stevens.

In addition, there is correspondence regarding tea. Stevens was a connoisseur of fine foods and enjoyed sending away for tea
in particular.
These letters with the Associated Tea Syndicate (WAS 1170-1176) and the Ceylon Tea Plantation Company (WAS 1346-1349), 1935-1938,
give some idea of his personal habits.

Business Associates

The collection does not contain letters from the files of the Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company. The following correspondents
were business associates as well as friends:

Funeral register for Wallace Stevens, 1955 August 4, with a packet of acknowledgement cards from the funeral and a typewritten
list of names. (WAS 4048)

III. Photographs

Physical Description: 245 photographs in 1 box and 1 volume

Scope and Content Note

Includes photographs of Wallace Stevens, his wife, Elsie Stevens, and their daughter, Holly Bright Stevens, as well as well
as other family members,
friends, and their homes. There is also a photograph album of a Stevens family trip to California and Arizona in 1923 (Folder
38) and a photograph album
of members of Elsie Stevens' family (Box 82). Most of the dates for the photographs was provided by Elsie Stevens.

Related Material

Additional photographs of the Stevens family are included in the Addenda (Boxes 68a and 82).

State of Connecticut's resolution expressing the State's pride in Stevens' achievements, February 3, 1955

Item 4

Hartt College of Music (Doctor of Humanities), June 9, 1955

Item 5

Mount Holyoke College (D. Litt.), June 2, 1952

Item 6

Wesleyan University (D. Litt.), June 15, 1947

Item 7

Yale University (D. Litt.), June 13, 1955

Honorary Awards-loose

Loose roll

Bard College (D. Litt.), March 29, 1951

Loose folder

Harvard University (D. Litt.), June 21, 1951

V. Xeroxes

Physical Description: 3 boxes

Scope and Content Note

Copies primarily of correspondence from the late 1930s to the 1950s, with some poetical material, especially in the Ronald
Lane Latimer folder.

Conditions of Use

The xeroxes in the box are for reference only; copies may not be made from them.
Copies may be obtained by writing to the institution owning the original manuscripts. Indication of the owner has usually
been
written (by Holly Stevens) on the xerox.

Arrangement

The xeroxes are organized in folders arranged alphabetically by correspondent.

In the early 1940s, Wallace Stevens began an extensive correspondence to trace his family ancestry. Elsie Stevens also took
an active interest in tracing her roots. Over 2,000 pieces of genealogical material resulted, in the form of letters, documents
and typescripts.
The material dates primarily from the 1940s. Why Stevens took such pains to trace his ancestry is open to speculation, but
two
possible reasons could be 1) the death of most of his family (i.e. brothers and sisters) in the late 1930s and early 1940s,
and 2)
Holly Stevens' decision to leave Vassar College without a degree in 1942. Stevens' attempt to define and describe his family
could well have been to reassure both himself and his daughter of their heritage.

Arrangement

The genealogical material has been semi-catalogued and is arranged alphabetically.